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Clifford Chance
Data Centres & AI Compute Infrastructure<br />

Data Centres & AI Compute Infrastructure

Advising on the next generation of digital infrastructure investment

We advise on some of the most significant and complex data centre and AI compute infrastructure projects globally, including the new wave of investment into GPU-enabled and AI-optimised facilities, high-performance computing platforms, and compute-as-a-service models. GPU and AI compute contracting is still nascent territory, and we have already advised on a number of the landmark transactions defining it, including sovereign AI and sovereignty-by-design mandates.

Our experience spans the full digital infrastructure ecosystem, from traditional data centre developments to advanced AI-ready environments, where compute, power, and capital structures are fundamentally reshaping the sector. We support clients across the value chain, including developers, operators, private capital, lenders, hyperscalers, neoclouds and GPU cloud providers, AI platform providers, and technology suppliers, delivering integrated advice on increasingly sophisticated, technology-driven transactions.

We understand that in this market, bankability and value are increasingly driven by contract structure as much as by the underlying asset, and we work to ensure early alignment between structure, contracts, regulatory considerations, financing strategy, and exit.

Our data centre services

  • Development and Construction

    Our dedicated construction group are fully embedded within our infrastructure practice, providing seamless advice on both local and cross-border projects. We have deep experience in negotiating and structuring construction contracts for traditional and AI-ready data centres, including those with advanced cooling, power, and connectivity requirements to support GPU-intensive workloads.

  • Dispute Resolution

    We prioritise early, pragmatic resolution strategies, balancing robust enforcement of our clients' rights with cost-effective outcomes. Where formal proceedings are required, we combine sector expertise with strategic legal guidance to secure optimal results. Disputes in this sector typically turn on construction and delay, grid and power access, capacity and service level commitments, and supply chain failures, and we advise across all of them.

  • Financing

    Leveraging our deep sector knowledge and experience, we advise on all aspects of data centre and AI compute infrastructure financing, including project finance, real estate finance, leveraged finance, as well as asset-backed and securitisation structures. Our global team brings market-leading insight into emerging models such as GPU fleet financing, GPU-as-a-service, bridge financing, and receivables-backed structures, ensuring clients benefit from best practice as the technology and financing landscape evolves.

  • Leasing, Customer and Commercial Agreements

    We have particular strength in structuring and negotiating complex commercial arrangements for both traditional and AI compute infrastructure. This includes compute-as-a-service and GPU-as-a-service contracts, co-location for high-performance computing, cloud and managed services, and technology partnerships supporting AI and machine learning workloads. With strong expertise across technology, AI, data centres, cyber and privacy and deep sector expertise, we are able to provide holistic advice tailored to the deal, whether standalone or supporting a financing structure. In each case we focus on the issues that drive bankability and risk allocation, including take-or-pay versus reserved capacity, obsolescence and refresh risk, and availability and performance regimes.

  • M&A and Joint Ventures

    We act for buyers, sellers, shareholders, and investors in joint ventures and operational platforms, offering exceptional market insight and experience. We understand this market and have the experience to advise clients on how best to address the commercial and risk aspects of transactions across the data centre and AI infrastructure sector.

  • Power and Connectivity

    Power availability, grid access, and sustainable energy sourcing are critical constraints on AI infrastructure growth. We advise on complex grid connection processes, innovative power solutions, renewable energy sourcing, and bespoke power purchase agreements to meet the substantial energy demands of GPU-intensive and AI training environments. We also advise on the connectivity layer, including fibre, interconnection, and the low-latency networking that high-performance GPU clusters depend on.

  • Real Estate, Permitting, Planning and Sustainability

    Our team advises on all real estate, environmental, and planning issues, including site selection, planning approvals, environmental assessment, carbon targets, sustainability regulation, and incentives for both traditional and AI-ready data centres.

     

     

  • Regulatory and Compliance

    We provide coordinated advice on regulatory requirements and compliance, focusing on data regulation, cybersecurity, energy efficiency reporting, water access and usage regulation, foreign ownership restrictions and direct investment, export controls, and evolving trade and tariff rules. We help clients structure deals to address regulatory and geopolitical risks from the outset, including data sovereignty and cross-border considerations. On sovereignty specifically, we advise across the instruments shaping this market, including SecNumCloud, the EUCS cloud certification scheme, DORA, NIS2, the forthcoming EU Cloud and AI Development Act, and the EuroHPC framework.

How can we help you?

End-to-end expertise across the data centre and AI infrastructure life cycle

We advise at every stage, from development and construction to financing, operation, and exit, for both traditional and next-generation AI data centres and infrastructure.

Sector and regulatory knowledge

We combine deep market insight with knowledge of regulatory developments and emerging technologies, guiding clients through complex legal, commercial, and compliance challenges in a rapidly evolving sector.

Global reach with integrated, collaborative service

Our one-firm approach connects sector specialists worldwide, delivering best practice, innovative structuring, and consistent advice wherever our clients' projects are located.

Expertise in AI-specific agreements and compute infrastructure

We have extensive experience advising on GPU and HPC procurement, AI-ready hardware and software supply, cloud services agreements, and the structuring of GPU fleet and GPU-as-a-service models.

Commercially focused, tailored solutions

Our teams deliver pragmatic, commercially driven solutions tailored to the unique demands of the project, including anticipating issues and securing outcomes aligned with our clients' strategic objectives across the data centre and AI compute infrastructure landscape.

Recent client highlights

Vantage Data Centers

Vantage Data Centers, a leading global provider of hyperscale data center campuses, as it raises €640 million in securitized term notes, marking the first-ever euro-based securitization of data center assets in Continental Europe.

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Yondr Group

Yondr Group on its over US$900 million project financing for landmark hyperscale data centre in Malaysia.

Find out more Yondr Group

AI cloud and compute deployments

Global law firm Clifford Chance has advised Core42, a G42 company specialising in sovereign cloud and AI infrastructure, on the arrangement of two structured trade finance facilities amounting to USD550 million with HSBC to accelerate its AI cloud and compute deployments across the United States and Europe.

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PIMCO funds

Global law firm Clifford Chance advised funds and accounts managed by Pacific Investment Management Company LLC (PIMCO), as majority investors in a US$27.3 billion private securities offering by funds managed by Blue Owl Capital to raise capital that will be invested into a joint venture with Meta Platforms, Inc. (Meta) to finance the development and operations of the 2,700 acre Hyperion Data Center in Richland Parish, Louisiana.

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atNorth

Global Law firm Clifford Chance is advising Partners Group, acting on behalf of its clients, on the sale of atNorth, one of the leading pan-Nordic data center platforms, to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Equinix.

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Brookfield

Global law firm Clifford Chance has advised Brookfield, alongside a global sovereign wealth investor, on a €1 billion holdco financing for DayOne Data Centers, a Singapore-headquartered developer and operator of hyperscale data centres.

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